5 Things we learned from Man United’s devastating late draw to Everton
What a nasty nasty late dagger from Maitland-Niles. Just when you think you’ve seen it all in football as a United fan an Everton right-back making his debut for the club scores an absolute screamer from miles out to earn his side a draw with the last kick of the game, it doesn’t get much worse than that. The first half was one that lacked any real quality but both sides did go close with Bruno Fernandes hitting the bar and Thierno Barry going close with a header he really should have scored, it didn’t take long however for us to get a goal in the second half as just seconds in Bryan Mbeumo picked up the ball on the right and drove towards the edge of the box before unleashing a brilliant shot past Pickford to give United the lead. From there United really should have added a second but just kept on making the wrong decision in the final third which eventually let Everton build up some momentum with the introduction of Jack Grealish on the left, you could feel something building for the home side and they did eventually get the equaliser in the 83rd minute as Hayden Hackney played the ball out to Tyrique George on the right who lasered a shot into the near-post past Lammens to make it 1-1 and set us up for a grand finish. A grand finish that looked like it went United’s way as in the 88th minute Bruno Fernandes found Luke Shaw on the overlap who dinked a cross into the box for Benjamin Sesko to rise up and score what we all thought was the winner, as we ticked into five minutes of injury time it looked like United were home and dry but the referee let Everton have one more attack down the left with Mazraoui clearing the ball to who else but Maitland-Niles to score an absolute worldy and rescue a point for Everton. What a ridiculous ending to a game of football.
That’ll feel like a win for Everton and David Moyes. It’s been a tough last week or so for Everton with the Folarin Bologun deal falling through at the last minute on deadline day but this result has to cheer them up coming from behind twice to eventually draw the game, the first half was a real slog for both teams but Everton probably had the clearest chance of them all with Thierno Barry’s header going just over the bar after a brilliant cross from Merlin Rohl. As Everton’s only real number nine a lot of their hopes this season fall on the Frenchman who has to do so much better with chances like that, defensively I thought Tarkowski and Brainthwaite in particular were immense in the first half and stopped countless promising United attacks. The Mbeumo goal at the start of the second half did look pretty soft from an Everton point-of-view letting him waltz towards the box but they responded well and the introduction of Jack Grealish really injected the team with some top quality in the attack, Tyrique George has always had a brilliant shot on him and we got our first glimpse of that today with a rocket into the near-post to get the Toffees level late on. They got hit again with Sesko’s header that Pickford probably should have done better with but yet again their heads didn’t drop and a moment of sheer brilliance from Maitland-Niles rescues probably a deserved point in the end, overall Moyes will be pleased with his sides response to going down twice but they’ll have to improve heading to Spurs next week. I’m sure they will.
What a horrifying way to drop two crucial points in the league. It really doesn’t get much worse than that for Michael Carrick to draw the game but he only really has himself to blame in my opinion, I said after the Hull game at the start of the season that Matheus Cunha cannot play up front and yet again we saw why today with the Brazilian dropping a near 0/10 performance that really had me scratching my head at times. The same can be said for Bryan Mbeumo but his performance was masked by a moment of sheer brilliance for the opening goal in the second half, we need to see a lot more of that from the Cameroonian this season on the right. The midfield was the best part of United’s performance today as I thought Mainoo and Tielemans played well but I just wish they moved the ball a bit quicker to transition in the attack but I guess they saw the way our attackers were moving today, the one standout in that position was Marcus Rashford who I thought yet again showed that he’s a level above the likes of Cunha and Mbeumo despite not registering a goal or assist. His combination with Luke Shaw will lead to a lot of goals for United this season if they can both stay fit, defensively yet again there are obvious holes just about everywhere in particular at right-back where I thought Diogo Dalot was horrific today and Yoro was arguably worse when he came on towards the end. I’m just so uncomfortable when we are defending late in matches and Lammens played a big part in that today which is uncharacteristic punching the ball when he should be catching it and then booting the ball out of play in the dying stages which led to Everton gaining possession for the equaliser, overall we only have ourselves to blame for dropping two points today and it doesn’t get any easier with City coming to Old Trafford next week. Lets see what this team is made of.
It’s time for Benjamin Sesko to be starting football matches for Man United. Since Michael Carrick’s come in I feel like he has been hesitant to trust Sesko and give him a run of games up front but after watching Cunha today I’d argue I would even start Zirkzee in that position over the Brazilian, Sesko has been a brilliant super-sub under Carrick so far but I feel like it’s time to give him a run of starts and see what he’s made of in this team. The constant crosses we were putting in today were pointless without a striker in there and I feel like Rashford and Sesko can strike a real partnership in that attack if they are given a run of games, Sesko missed pre-season after an injury sustained last season after Konate pushed him off the steep slope at Old Trafford so maybe that’s why Carrick hasn’t started the Slovenian yet but I think Thursday’s game against Sabah in the Champions League is the perfect time to start him and build some momentum. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.
What’s up next for these two teams? Up next for United as I said above they kick-off their Champions League campaign at home to Sabah who are making their debut in the competition whilst they are back in Premier League action against Man City on Sunday, an exciting week ahead hopefully for Carrick’s side, for Everton they take on Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium next Saturday and resume their Carabao Cup campaign against Wolves at the Hill Dickinson next midweek. Should be an exciting couple of weeks ahead with the Champions League starting, I can’t wait.